A brain dump about living and working on the edge of the social web.

7 posts from September 2009

September 30, 2009

In December of 2003, The Flaming Lips were asked to perform at the Yahoo! Year End Party in San Francisco. I worked for Yahoo at the time and had a minor role in getting them to play. Because of this I was able to be on stage during the performance in an owl costume that smelled like urine. It was during this time that I experienced one of the happiest moments of my life...

September 24, 2009

No I'm not going to Disneyland, but I may be going to Orlando in November. Though I doubt Disney would be involved on that trip... no this is by "popular" demand. By popular I mean that my good friend @veeliam said he liked this fine recording by Negativland and wanted to hear it again. So here you go buddy....

September 21, 2009

Perhaps you've seen this before... tucked inside an Edward Tufte book about Visual Explanations... or in that New York Dolls documentary... but I thought I'd share it with you here and now. It blends two of my favorite things, music and information design.

This is Reebee's Genealogy of Pop/Rock Music from 1955 to 1978. I hope he decides to continue the chart. If not, I may take a crack at it.

Hey kids, how about a non-depressing uncancer post for a change? Sounds good? Okay, let's goooooooo!

Disclaimer: I work for Yahoo! Inc. I have absolutely no insight into what the mobile or app strategy is. I try to avoid those conversations if possible, unless they want or need my help. Believe me I tried it the other way and it never goes anywhere.

I want a Yahoo iPhone app for all the things I do on Yahoo. Hold on... now listen carefully. I don't want one single app that does all that. That's too Yahoo. I want a single app for each of the things that I do on Yahoo. A focused app for each of the key things that Yahoo offers. There are already some, but it's not enough and I still don't see a cohesive approach yet. Toes have been wet too long so it would be good to see some action.

The reason is simple. The best apps are simple, focused, and fill a need. A need that's important to you at that moment and time. Those needs are the same no matter if you are near your laptop or near your iPhone. You want information or you want to do something specific at that given time. The app user experience is perfect for this. They are tiny applications that, by definition do small things or provide some small service. This is what Yahoo is all about. Or it can be. Yahoo has done a great job (for better or worse) of creating "channels" of content and services. These meet specific needs and there's a lot that goes into them. The problem with them on the web site is that they always try to do too much. There rarely ever is focus to Yahoo! vertical properties. Some are better than others, but I'll just leave it at that.

The app infrastructure and expected user experience solves this problem. It forces the developers to create a very targeted and focused application. If done right, they expose the core of the service and let nothing much else get in the way.

Here are the Yahoo! Apps that have been built and are in the iTunes Store:

Yahoo! - this is the wrong idea. It tries to do way too much. You name it, it's in there. Hey! Just like Yahoo! Bah! This should be scrapped and broken out into several specific apps.

Flickr - This is new and it's on the right track. But it's missing key functionality and settings capabilities. First... that slide show at the beginning. I want to control who I see there. But it gives me the same random people from my contacts list. It's also pretty slow. Why cant I see my favorites? Why can't I favorite other images? And it crashes constantly. Good first step though. But I'd like to see a product roadmap. (iTunes keeps crashing on me while I try to get these links, so you're on your own now.)

Finance - I haven't tried this one yet, but from what I've seen, i looks really good. Speed is key though, so I hope it's as fast as possible.

Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football - I do use this. I got talked into joining a fantasy leauge with my pals in Yahoo Travel. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I see the fun of it. Oh! That reminds me, I need to check the stats for today's games. I'm in 3rd right now...

Yahoo! Messenger - I have it, but I don't use it. I'm not sure why because I use the desktop app all the time. I'll have to look into that some more.

Yahoo! Music - Really it's CBS Radio Music. I'm not certain how much LAUNCH there is left in LAUNCHcast. I should say that launchcast was way ahead of its time and was one of my favorite music things on the web. The only problem for me is that it was for PCs and not Macs. Always bogus.

Here are more Yahoo! Apps I'd like to see.

Yahoo! Movies - I use Y! Movies all the time. Give me showtime, give me reviews, give me box office numbers and I'm good. Added bonus would be the ability to share a showtime with someone to get an agreement on a movie. And I'll forgive you if you put in ticket purchases.

Yahoo! News - A pure news app. I think it's pretty straight forward as long as you bury the crap about Jon and Kate and The Hills or whatever. I want news. Local, National, World. Financial, Sports, Technology, Opinion, would be a bonus. Make it simple, use images only when necessary. Again, this has to be fast!

Yahoo! Sports - Oh man this would be awesome! Scores, live game day action, video, news, team reports, etc. But I would actually take this one step deeper. I wouldn't do a single app for all sports, I'd do a separate app for single sports. NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, etc. That would kick ass. Focus!!

Yahoo! Shopping - Search, quick price compare, ability to save the product to a list for later. Barcode reading, image recognition, etc. Buying links would take you to the merchant through the browser. It's about finding a product, finding a price, and saving it for later. Transactions are a bonus.

Yahoo! Travel - I know a little about what's going on here, so I won't say anything, but check this out to see a peak at the direction. http://m.travel.yahoo.com/?_ym=1 (best viewed on an iphone of all things!

Yahoo! Mail - The iphone mail app is pretty good. But Yahoo knows mail better than almost anyone. We should have our own app. It should be super fast and should try to avoid the Y! Mail embedded applications that seem to be showing up if possible. It should handle photos and video really well though.

Yahoo! Local - c'mon! This has to be done. Yelp and Trip Ad visor are eating our lunch. This is the perfect platform for local content. I'll stop there because I'll get frustrated.

Upcoming - Find events nearby, post content about that event during the event based on your location, add events to the service by taking photos of fliers.

Yahoo! Games - Create a package of most popular games on Yahoo! games for people to play. Not focused, but very Yahoo. Then start breaking out and making (or commissioning) unique games for the iphone.

Feed reader - I know we don't have one, but why not build one and marry it to My Yahoo or something. This could also be part of the news app. It could let you add your own sources or choose from a selection, etc.

There's a ton more ideas. But I'll end this now. I think a very important part of these apps would be the seamless integration with the real/live corresponding sites. The amazon app does a great job of this. Check it out. But these apps should provide lots of hooks back to the main site for later use. List creation, uploads, sharing of content, bookmarking to read later, etc. The site and the app should work seamlessly. This builds brand, engagement, and business.

It would be great if then Yahoo would take the app concept to the web site. So each vertical can be structured and developed like an app would. Focused, simple, effective, helpful, informative, convenient, fast. beepp!

September 10, 2009

I went in for my 3 month oncology check up today. I had blood work done two days ago and this was the first visit with my doctor since I had a CT scan after chemo 3 months ago. I hope this makes sense. I'm seeing my oncologist every 3 months and this was the first of those visits. Everything is good. Some aspects of my blood are goofy but this is because I've had chemo. Some cells take longer to regenerate.

This is the first time that I've felt a little safe since the surgery. It's a new page. I can maybe start thinking ahead. I have a future.

My doctor (Dr. Wu) is awesome. We talk about gadgets and the web and the Yahoo! / Microsoft search deal and iPhone apps before we talk about cancer. I told him about the post chemo side effects I've been experiencing. Chemo Brain and the like. The side effects include:

Numb feet (especially toes)

Numbness and pain in my fingertips

Difficulty focusing

Inability to multi-task

Memory loss

Difficulty writing and spelling

Difficulty speaking

A general brain fogginess

Confusion

Frustration

Depression

Anxiety

He said that what I'm experiencing is common. There hasn't been a lot of research about life after chemotherapy. Everyone has been focused on killing cancer cells and there hasn't been as much attention on what survivors experience. Now that there are more cancer survivors it's becoming a little more clear what chemotherapy does. Basically more people are saying the same thing so doctors are starting to take notice on a collective level. I'm feel okay about living with these side effects. It's not known how long they'll last, but I'm willing to live with them. Dr. Wu said I have a "new normal".

The new normal. Basically life is not the same. I've had cancer, I'm missing a lung, and I've had chemotherapy. My life is not like it was a year ago. That "normal" no longer exists. My new normal includes this trauma. Now what do I do about it? Dr. Wu said it is like a person who has had a leg amputation. The person can either stay in a wheel chair or can get up and learn to use a prosthesis. The latter is much more difficult and can be painful, but a transformation happens. The person has learned to live as best they can given the circumstances.

I'm not totally certain yet, but I think my new normal means that I take things a little slower. I do less. I simplify. I think it also gives me a clear opportunity to shift my focus to my health and well-being. I look inward more. I don't take on too much. I breathe.

My new normal is to breathe. Deep breaths. Because I can. My new normal is to live the best I can given the circumstances.

September 03, 2009

My son just started Fall Ball Little League. This is a good thing. These are the kids that are serious about the sport. Spring Little League is awesome, but Fall Ball is where it's at. The games are at night, the air is crisp, the lights are on, and the kids go at it.

Watching the practice last night, I realized that there are several universal "truths" to playing baseball. These are things that are drilled into your head as you learn to play and even watch the game. I may not name them all, but I thought I'd jot them down. If you wish to add to this, please do so in the comments.

Obligatory Introduction

I'm David Beach and this is my blog. I'm a Product Manager, Information Architect, and founder of 12seconds.tv. I work for eBay Mobile. I'm also surviving lung cancer. This site is about my life online and some other junk... enjoy ;)